Studies of the Americas

This book brings together recent research on the sociopolitical history of Latin American statistics from the nineteenth to the first half of the twentieth century. Reflecting the influence of social constructivism in the social sciences, it sheds new light on the historical emergence and development of both statistical reasoning and practices within a region traditionally seen as a passive consumer of foreign-produced theories and methods. By analysing the processes of institutionalisation of statistics in different national spaces, from Mexico to the Southern Cone, these studies show the unique ways in which Latin America adapted and used this modern tool of government and social classification to build political regimes and scientific arenas. The early enthusiasm for enumerating reality, the regular production of statistics and censuses, and the role of the region in the global transformation of this knowledge are some of the aspects reviewed to grasp the contingent dynamic of these dialogues and appropriations. Thus, Socio-political Histories of Latin American Statistics seeks to offer new insights into the divergent regional trajectories of this discipline, advancing towards an understanding of statistics and its past from a truly global perspective.

This book analyzes the transformations and consistencies of American leadership during the past few years and situates recent American foreign policy in a longer time frame, following the 2020 presidential election and after a full year of the Biden Administration. This longer and broader view by European and American academics and experts considers both shifting American policies, notably during Trump’s presidency, and underlying trends that have often gone ignored compared to the more dramatic antics of the 45th president. It helps decode recent American policy and permits us to consider possible new directions and likely continuities under Democratic leadership.

This book explores the role of Chineseness or lo chino in the production of Chilean national identity. It does so by discussing the many voices, images, and intentions of diverse actors who contribute to stereotyping or problematizing Chineseness in Chile. The authors argue that in general, representing and perceiving China or Chineseness as the Other is part of a broader cultural and political strategy for various stakeholders to articulate Chile as either a Western country or one that is becoming-Western. The authors trace the evolution of the symbolic role that China and Chineseness play in defining racial, gendered, and class aspects of Chilean national social imaginary. In doing so, they challenge a common idea that Chineseness is a stable signifier and the simplistic perception of the ethnic Chinese as the unassimilable foreigner within the nation. In response, the authors call for a postmigrant approach to understanding identities and Chilean society beyond stubborn Orient-Occident and us-them dichotomies.

The reference to a right/left/right/left sequence over a period of thirty years undoubtedly accounts for a singular pendulum pattern yet proves to be excessively simplistic. The right/left dichotomy hides fractures and nuances that characterize each political camp.

This book seeks to explain why some elections result in alternations and others do not. Based on an innovative theoretical framework and a unique collection of case studies, the book offers a rich understanding of Latin America’s contemporary political evolutions.

Voters are getting accustomed to punishing incumbents for not delivering in time of crises, resulting in frequent alternations. It might be good for democracy, not so much for governability.

The book provides an examination of the evolution of China and Taiwan after 1949. This starting point situates the contestation for power between the two entities in the region after Taipei was recognized by the international community as the representative of China. The ramifications for Taiwan were drastic as country after country switched its recognition to China including those in the Caribbean and Latin America.  Taiwan was able to maintain diplomatic relations with several countries in both regions through diplomatic strategies including providing financial assistance.  This has waned over time considering China’s economic rise to power and Western Europe’s and the United States’ fall in global economic and political prestige and power.

This book analyses America’s alliances and strategic culture in the Indo-Pacific, from the Presidency of George W. Bush to Joe Biden. It advances the notion of the ‘Pacific Dream’, an American vision for Indo-Pacific integration. Its historical chapter covers the period from 1951 to 2001, presenting the reader with the evolution of Washington’s most successful Indo-Pacific alliance network, the San Francisco System. The chapters that follow analyse every presidency from 2001 onward, focusing on defining the Pacific Dream and arguing that the San Francisco System is becoming outdated and slowly replaced by formats like the Quad, Quad Plus, or AUKUS. There is particular attention given to the growing importance American allies have in Washington’s Pacific Dream and strategic culture. A case is made that American strategic culture is blending with concepts from allied strategic cultures, such as Japan, Australia, or South Korea.

Few aspects of social policy have been more controversial than the effects of Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) on gender relations and policy outcomes on gender relations are linked to policy designs. Development and social policy communities have recognized gender equality as a cornerstone of development and social progress. Nonetheless, designing policy to integrate gender equality goals into social policies is rendered that much more complicated as and when these policies travel. In Mexico in 1997, the first CCT, Progresa, looked quite different than CCTs look today. Embedded in the design was Affirmative Action geared toward girls, as was a clearly enunciated concern about the program's effects on female empowerment. For the 2005 Peruvian CCT, Juntos, the story was very different. Its design did not include any gender equality goals and it reproduced long-standing social policy legacies of gendered exclusions. Therefore, this book is about the alteration of Conditional Cash Transfer designs in relation to gender equality goals as they have made their way through Latin America as well as through the World Bank. This book aims to account for “the fading goal of gender equality” (Jenson 2015) across time as part of this regional trajectory. In short, it tracks the how and the why of this trajectory in relation to gender equality goals.